Obama, Abe talk North Korea

President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said after an Oval Office meeting Friday that they both agreed recent missile tests by North Korea deserved a strong rebuke.

The president said they discussed "our determination to take strong actions in response," while Abe said one of the actions they discussed was imposing financial sanctions, according to pool reports.

“We just cannot tolerate the actions of North Korea, such as launching missiles and conducting nuclear tests,” Abe said. “So we agreed we would cooperate with one another and deal resolutely with North Korea.”

Other issues they discussed included efforts to resolve the nuclear issue in Iran. Obama thanked Abe for Japan's support in Afghanistan, and the leaders' exchanged condolences for the loss of life in the terrorist attack on the BP plant in Algeria, and pledged that this "would spur greater counter-terrorism cooperation," according to a pool report.

In opening remarks, Obama noted that "the US-Japan alliance is the central foundation for our regional security and so much of what we do in the Pacific region."